30 pages • 1 hour read
John CheeverReunion
Fiction | Short Story | Middle Grade | Published in 1962A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Expectation Versus Reality
In “Reunion,” the theme of expectation versus reality illustrates Charlie’s internal struggle and highlights his ultimate realization about his father. Despite not seeing his dad for three years, Charlie is excited and hopeful about their meeting, for he expects a typical reunion of joy and connection. However, as the narrative progresses, the reality sets in that his father provides discomfort and conflict, the opposite of what Charlie anticipated.
Initially, Charlie feels only excitement and adoration toward his father. Although the boy notes that “he was a stranger,” he also adds, “I had hoped that someone would see us together. I wished that we could be photographed. I wanted some record of our having been together” (518). Since photographs are taken to commemorate significant or joyful events, Charlie anticipates a great day connecting with his long-lost father. Additionally, he wants others to notice, which is typical in moments of pride or joy but not those of disappointment. At this point, Charlie is eager with the prospect of a happy reunion lunch with his father.
Charlie’s expectations sharply contrast with the reality of his father’s behavior. Though the man seems jovial, he repeatedly disrespects waiters with obnoxious actions, like clapping his hands for attention, and verbal indignities, like calling a server “an impudent domestic” (519). A disparity exists between Charlie’s desire to be photographed with his father and the actual pattern of disrespect the older man unleashes on others. Later, Charlie’s father apologizes, not for his behavior but for the fact that they did not go to his club. In fact, when he offers to buy Charlie a paper for the train, he spews more invectives at the clerk of the newsstand, inquiring, “Is it asking too much for you to sell me one of your disgusting specimens of yellow journalism?” (520). If the apology had been for his behavior, he would not have acted disrespectfully just moments later. It is at this point Charlie recognizes the frivolity of his expectations for the day. Not only does he have to catch his train, but he also needs to leave because he realizes the truth. The disconnect between his expectations and reality is punctuated as he says, “Goodbye, Daddy,” letting go of their visit and his childlike adoration of his father.
The disparity between expectation and reality highlights both the realism in John Cheever’s writing and the moralist perspective he sometimes takes in his stories. On one hand, it is inevitable for a child to realize their parent is flawed. Yet, the flaws of Charlie’s father exceed those of most parents with his blatant disregard for others and his excessive drinking, which lead to Charlie walk away from that relationship.
Taking the High Ground
Charlie’s judgment of his father expresses his transformation catalyzed by the realization that reality often differs from expectation; it also encapsulates the idea of taking the high ground, or doing the right thing when others are not. After witnessing how his father treats other people and how those people respond, Charlie reacts kindly and follows their lead, choosing the more respectful course of action.
At the first restaurant, Charlie’s father claps and yells for service; when the waiter calmly explains that he does not like this behavior, his father responds, “I should have brought my whistle […] I have a whistle that is audible only to the ears of old waiters” (518). Clapping for service is demeaning to the waitstaff. However, to suggest that there is a special whistle for old waiters, like there is for dogs, is derogatory and dehumanizing, for it equates the server to an animal. In the face of this, the waiter “quietly” replies, “I think you’d better go somewhere else” (519). The waiter’s calm words and gentle tone do not match the vitriol with which Charlie’s father attacks him, demonstrating to Charlie how to take the high ground when treated with disrespect. This model behavior continues when his father demands more drinks at the second restaurant while this new waiter politely declines to serve Charlie because he is underage. At the third restaurant, his father’s drunken tirade is met with smiles, while at the fourth they are politely declined a seat, and at the newsstand, the clerk refuses to engage altogether. Charlie is repeatedly exposed to the polite, respectful path in the face of his father’s harangues and tantrums.
Because of these models, and because of his dawning realization of his father’s true nature, Charlie ultimately takes the high road as well. While his father attempts to get a rise out of the newsstand clerk, Charlie simply says goodbye and enters the train station, never to see his father again. Instead of sticking with his father and potentially being “something like him” (518), the boy walks away, signifying that he has chosen a different path for himself.
The story’s emphasis on taking the high ground illuminates why Cheever is so often considered a moralist in his short stories. The narrative is structured so the choices made by the waiters, the clerk, and Charlie are framed as mature and appropriate—and thus correct—in the face of disparagement, disrespect, and lack of decorum.
The Inability to Communicate
At the heart of “Reunion” lies the inability to communicate. This theme is evident in the superficial interactions between Charlie’s father and the waiters/clerk and in the relationship between father and son. This story examines the reality of a fractured father-son bond against expectations that their connection be strong despite years apart.
The older man’s inability to appropriately interact and communicate with others is evident the moment the duo enters the first restaurant. Charlie’s father claps and yells, then disparages the waiter as if he were a dog. Typically, these behaviors and words are not used unless there has been a problem that has escalated beyond repair, and even then this is considered extreme disrespect. Instead, Charlie’s father immediately relies on these methods of communication to get served. Although Charlie still adores his father, even he notes that his father’s “boisterousness in the empty restaurant seemed out of place” (518). This pattern continues until they reach the newsstand where “the clerk turned away from him and stared at a magazine cover” (520). The father’s interactions with others are so off-putting that the clerk does not deem them worthy of a response.
Less explicit than the father’s interactions with these strangers is his inability to communicate with his own son. The story begins with Charlie writing to his father to meet up in New York between his two trains, yet his father’s “secretary wrote to say that he would meet me at the information booth at noon” (518). The very first interaction between parent and child is passed off to his father’s employee, foreshadowing the lack of connection revealed later in the narrative. Furthermore, the father’s communication with his son is one-sided, for he dominates conversations and their experiences at each restaurant. This is most evident in Charlie’s dialogue, which is missing entirely until after they depart restaurant number four. Charlie’s father is so focused on getting a rise out of everyone that he fails to pay close attention to his son. This lack of attention is clear when Charlie repeatedly notes that he must leave, yet his father says, “Now, just wait a second, sonny […] Just wait a second. I want to get a rise out of this chap” (520). Ignorant to the fact that his son, whom he rarely sees, is on the verge of leaving, Charlie’s father prioritizes his harangue about yellow journalism. This blind spot prevents a connection between father and son and demonstrates how an inability to communicate can sever a relationship.
“Reunion” is not the only story of Cheever’s that illuminates people’s inability to connect with one another. It is a hallmark of the realism present in Cheever’s writing style, evident in many of his works, including another short story, “The Enormous Radio.” His narratives demonstrate that it is in everyday moments, like a lunchtime reunion, that people lose connections.
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